


A Meeting of Magisters

by servantofclio



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-11
Updated: 2016-01-11
Packaged: 2018-05-13 07:26:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5699995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/servantofclio/pseuds/servantofclio
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU; one-shot. What if Dorian's father actually did that blood magic ritual, and it went awry?</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Meeting of Magisters

Halward Pavus could admit to himself that he had not been the best of fathers. He had made many mistakes in this time, and had nearly given up on finding a way to remedy the most terrible of them, until this.

“It’s a very intriguing theory,” he said at last, thumbing through the notes he had been perusing for the last day. Difficult, abstruse, complex… Dorian himself had considered the spell inadvisable, and yet… Dorian was no longer in a position to object.

“More wine?” said Gereon Alexius, and filled Halward’s glass at his nod. “Yes,” he said then, taking a seat at the table. “More theoretical than practical, perhaps, but we cannot know until we try. Dorian helped a great deal with the theory. Brilliant mind, your son has— ah, forgive me.”

Halward’s lips thinned. “Quite,” he said. A lifetime of maneuvering among his fellow magisters had taught him to do no more to betray himself. It was no inadvertent slip that his fellow magister had made, he was quite sure. Alexius was attempting to manipulate him. He eyed the other man intently, seeking out any trace of guile. He could not help the spark of jealousy. Alexius had given him the means of saving Dorian once before, had taken the boy in hand when Halward had despaired of his behavior, and had set him on the proper path for a future magister. 

Now, again, Alexius might hold the key, and so any manipulation was hardly necessary. Alexius had not needed to bring the notes that were written in a crisp, neat, heartbreakingly familiar hand. It was motive enough that Halward had had to leave Dorian at the estate under round-the-clock watch by the servants, as he was unable to do more than the simplest things for himself, and had been ever since that ill-fated night. Halward had always decried blood magic, had prided himself on not resorting to such machinations, and the one time he had fallen to temptation and attempted a blood ritual, the results had been not the satisfied, obedient son he had hoped for, but rather—

_The smell of blood strong in the air, the tingling rush of great power, and yet, as Halward watched, wit and spirit drained from his son’s eyes, leaving them empty—_

He hated to think of it. It had cost a great deal of coin and favors to keep the rumors to a minimum. There was no controlling them entirely, of course; all of society knew about the tragedy that had befallen House Pavus, if not the particulars. If Halward had it to do over again—

And that was the matter at hand, wasn’t it?

“Quite,” Alexius echoed. “It will be a difficult thing, to be sure, but we both have adequate motive, do we not? What father would not move mountains for his son?” 

His eyes were bright, and Halward could see nothing more than barely restrained eagerness. Alexius, it seemed, was as desperate as he. Halward picked up the glass and sipped, slowly. An excellent vintage, worth savoring. “What father, indeed?” he said.

Alexius smiled. “Then we are agreed? We shall try to set things right?”

Halward nodded. “For the sake of our sons.”

Their glasses met with a single, clear note, and they drank to seal their accord.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't have any plans to continue this. The possibility of Halward screwing this up and going off to research time magic with Alexius is horrifying enough for me. Credit, or blame, to probablylostrightnow, frandayam, and theherocomplex for encouraging this line of thought, however.


End file.
